Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease and one of the most common forms of dementia. Diminished cholinergic functioning, a biomarker of normal aging, is especially severe in cases involving dementia. In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid plaque deposits in key components of the cholinergic system cause a drastic decline in acetylcholine levels. To make matters worse, already reduced acetylcholine levels continue to be degraded by acetylcholinesterase, further impairing memory and eroding cognitive ability. Further, the production of reactive oxygen species plays a key role in Alzheimer's disease pathology leading to neuronal dysfunction and cell death.
Tau proteins, mostly found in neurons of the central nervous system, have an important role in stabilizing microtubules, critical structures responsible for various movements in cells. If Tau is hyperphosphorylated, it loses effectiveness in stabilizing microtubules and starts to aggregate. Hyperphosphorylation and aggregation of Tau is observed in dementias like Alzheimer's disease.
What is needed in the art is a therapeutic agent that can act on multiple targets of Alzheimer's disease pathology. It is believed that therapeutic interventions that could postpone the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease would dramatically reduce the disease prevalence. Natural botanical formulations offer an attractive alternative to the therapeutic intervention of Alzheimer's disease.